Racism against Vietnamese
Vietnamese Political Action Committee
June 26, 1996
Hello,
My name is Thai Nguyen Strom, a Vietnamese-American and resident of San Joaquin
County, California. Something just happened here that dismays and disturbs me
deeply. I enclose a report from a local newspaper, The Record, of the incident.
Although Ba` Nguye^~n To^' Ca^`n has been a "nightmare" to public officials here
at both the county and city levels, but that's no excuse for a county Board of
Supervisors member to lose his temper and told her to go back to Vietnam if
she's so critical of the system here.
If after reading the newspaper report you would like to express your concern
and/or dismay, you may send or fax your comments to:
1. San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors: fax 209-468-3694 (no e-mail address
available)
2. The Record's Opinion Page/Letters to the editor: fax 209-546-8288; e-mail
address: edi...@recordnet.com
Best regards,
--------------------------------------------
The Record June 26, 1996, B1
Barber lashes out at citizen, tells woman to go back to Vietnam
By Ann Schuyler
Record Staff Writer
As she does every Monday night and Tuesday morning, Tocan Nguyen launched into a
rambling soliloquy during a public meeting, commenting about government spending
and alleged abuse at the hands of government officials.
But after nearly 10 years of hearing Nguyen talk during time reserved for public
comments, San Joaquin County Supervisor George Barber hit his limit.
Jumping up from behind the dais at Tuesday's meeting, Barber told the former
activist for Stockton's Vietnamese refugee community to go back to Vietnam.
Barber then stalked out of the meeting.
"If you're not happy with the system, you should go back where you came from,"
Barber barked.
Supervisors William Sousa, Dario Marenco and Robert Cabral immediately
apologized to Nguyen for Barber's comment.
"That someone would say you should go back to where you come from is terrible,"
Sousa said.
Nguyen, 64, is homeless and has complained at City Council and supervisors'
meetings about treatment she has received from the county mental-health
department, offered to show elected officials bruises she claims were caused by
public employees and called District Attorney John Phillips, Sheriff Baxter Dunn
and other officials "top criminals."
Nonetheless, a leader of a social-justice group in Stockton said Barber went too
far.
"That's a racist comment," said Raj Ramaiya, director of the American Friends
Service Committee. "I am perturbed to hear a statement like that from a
respected political person.
"Tocan's a very intelligent person and whenever her mental problem kicks in she
slips into something else and people do get irritated at her. I think George
Barber has to apologize to Tocan and the community for making a statement like
that."
But Barber remained unrepentant. After the meeting, he said his outburst was not
intended to be racist, but he was tired of hearing Nguyen accuse county
employees of illegal activity. Barber said he snapped when Nguyen began
denigrating him and Supervisor Edward Simas.
"I guess I had just about all I can stand of her calling people crooks and
criminals and slamming department heads," Barber said. "They didn't need to
apologize to her as far as I was concerned. I'm not going to apologize to her. I
think she owes an apology to the county, and the employees and the elected
officials she's slandered for the last 10 years.
"I shouldn't let her bother me, but it does bother me after a while to have that
continually go on."
Other elected officials said they sympathize with Barber's frustration at
Nguyen's time-consuming comments during meetings, but said public comment cannot
be squelched. It's easy to resent the amount of time spent listening to Nguyen,
Stockton City Councilman Mel Panizza said.
"I've come to the view that she's been stealing part of my life, five minutes at
a time, for over six years," Panizza said. "I feel George's pain."
After Barber's comment, Nguyen began shouting and swearing. But when Sousa,
Marenco and Cabral apologized to Nguyen, she quietly thanked them.
"I'm going to ask your board to take action, formally," Nguyen told Cabral.
Until the late '80s, Nguyen was active politically on behalf of Southeast Asian
refugees living in the county, questioning local government use of federal and
state funds targeted for refugees. But in the past five years, Nguyen's
participation in public life has deteriorated, elected officials say.
Nguyen lists the Tuxedo Park post office on Pacific Avenue as her home and last
year was arrested for causing a public disturbance there. In 1994, police
arrested her for causing a public disturbance at a restaurant.
Stockton Vice Mayor Floyd Weaver said that on Monday he had to tell Nguyen that
she was straying from the subject. Balancing Nguyen's right to speak with the
need to move a meeting along is part of democracy, Weaver said.
"We've been dealing with her for a good 10 years," Weaver said. "I can
understand people getting very frustrated over her comments, but I take the
attitude that she has the right to come before and speak to the council or the
board."
Mental-health professionals and advocates said that confronting somebody who is
rambling only makes the situation worse. The best thing to do is speak calmly
and be reassuring, said Bruce Hopperstad, program chief for the county's
mental-health department. "Try to work around it," he said.
Cherie Keeler, president of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of San Joaquin
County, said that the bottom line is that people struggling with mental illness
are "still a human being and should be treated with some respect."
PHOTOS: NGUYEN: Political activist. BARBER: Displays anger.
Copyright (c) The Record, 1996. Permission for electronic distribution is
granted provided it is for non-profit use and The Record is properly credited.
P-215 Lab - Westmead Campus
I think we now all should united to get rid off Vietcong, so we can go
back to live in our own country, since only our own country is the best,
when i'm around 60 I have to go back and live in VN, since I was born
there and I should also die there when i'm old ...
P-215 Lab - Westmead Campus
Ho Chi Wes
Dear whom;
I have to agree with the county board of supervisor George Barber, Tocan
Nguyen or whom ever this individual is an opportunistic, an idiot a
fucking loud mouth bitch with a goal to make these vietnamese refugee at
san joaquin permanently lazy, and become welfare collector for life,
doesn't know what the hell she talking about. It time someone has a gut
to shut her mouth once for all, if I was George I'd tell her not only go
back to vietnam but also go back to ESL class and go the hell after that.
A vietnamese had a said...( DDa`n o^ng mie^.ng ro^.ng thi` sang, dda`n
ba` mie^.ng ro^.ng tan hoang cu+~a nha`) or in this case there goes the
city hall. Correct translations of this quotation would be " A man with
a loud mouth would get things done, but things will get naughty bad with
a loud mouth bitch"
so Thai stop crying wolf...
good day
hcw